INDIAN WELLS: Indian tennis ace Sumit Nagal went down to South Korea’s Seong-chan Hong after putting up a spirited fight in the final qualifying round of Indian Wells Masters here. The 26-year-old Nagal lost 6-2, 2-6, 6-7 (4-7) on Tuesday. Earlier, Nagal brushed past the challenge of American wildcard Stefan Dostanic in straight sets in his first outing at the Indian Wells Masters on Monday.

The India No. 1 singles player beat Dostanic in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the qualifying. And while Nagal may have lost to Hong, he assured himself of 10 ranking points and USD 14,400 prize money by making the final qualifying round. Nagal recently made history by becoming the first Indian men’s singles player in a decade to advance to the second round of the Australian Open. He also won the Chennai Challengers title, thus entering the top-100 rankings.